The National Sports Tribunal, a government-funded body established to provide an independent avenue for sports organisations to resolve serious disputes, has declared itself “absolutely” available to arbitrate the Hawthorn racism row.
As the AFL works to establish an investigative process acceptable to retired Indigenous footballers who say they were mistreated by Hawthorn and former coaches and club officials, tribunal chief John Boultbee confirmed his organisation had the capacity to hear the case.
Luke Hodge and Alastair Clarkson lift the 2014 premiership cup.Credit:Justin McManus
“The AFL would have to refer it to us and then the parties – the athletes, the club and the individuals who have been named – would need to agree for it to be arbitrated within the NST,” Boultbee said on Monday.
“Absolutely, we are there to do that sort of stuff, but it is dependent on the parties involved wanting us to do it.”
The AFL is close to finalising its own four-person panel to investigate claims by the former Hawthorn footballers contained in a report commissioned by the club into the experiences of Indigenous past players. As previously revealed by The Age, the former players are reluctant to co-operate with any process which is not entirely independent of the AFL.
Under the AFL’s preferred process currently being established by lawyer and former Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon, any findings of the investigation panel would probably be referred back to the AFL Commission to determine whether the actions of any former Hawthorn employees had brought the game into disrepute.
A lawyer acting for four former Hawthorn players, Arnold Bloch Leibler partner Leon Zwier, is pushing for a process with greater separation from AFL House. Sources familiar with the matter say the players want to testify under oath and are prepared to be cross-examined about their experiences at the club, provided this can be done within a jurisdiction other than one controlled by the AFL.
Amid this impasse, the National Sports Tribunal has emerged as a potential way through. Boultbee, a former director of the Australian Insitute of Sport, said the tribunal had 80 arbitrators on its books, including two with Indigenous backgrounds, from which a three-person panel could be selected.
The tribunal can accept sworn or unsworn testimony and lists disputes involving alleged bullying, harassment and discrimination among its areas of expertise. Its involvement would remove any perception of an AFL conflict of interest.
Asked whether the tribunal would be a suitable jurisdiction to arbitrate the Hawthorn dispute, Boultbee was emphatic: “The answer is straightforwardly, yes.”
The Hawthorn report, titled a “cultural safety review”, was compiled by Phil Egan, an Indigenous education consultant and former Richmond footballer. It was intended to be confidential and recommended that its finding be referred to the AFL’s integrity unit.
The most serious allegation contained in the report is that one of his players was pressured to tell his partner to have an abortion. The report also contains racially charged allegations that Aboriginal players were separated from their families by club officials.
Egan’s review did not consult the Hawthorn coaches and other officials against whom the serious and potentially career-ending allegations were made.
Alastair Clarkson, the newly appointed coach of the Kangaroos, and Brisbane coach Chris Fagan have stood down from their jobs pending the findings of an inquiry into their time at Hawthorn. Both deny any wrongdoing.
Fagan has retained legal team Clayton Utz to represent him. Last week Clarkson said the leaking of the cultural safety review “seriously undermined if not irrevocably corrupted” the chance of a fair process being followed in any investigation.
On the day the allegations against Hawthorn were first reported by the ABC, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan promised to establish an independent inquiry, led by a prominent king’s counsel, that would “get to the bottom” of what he described as harrowing stories.
AFL sources said on Monday they had no plans to refer the matter to the National Sports Tribunal.
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